Question

Where did the atoms that make up a newborn baby originate?

Answer 1

This is a very fundamental question.

Different persons will give different answer- A Biologist would say from the mother and father of the child. A physicist will say otherwise.

Speaking in terms of physics, applying the principle of conservation of energy(/mass), it can neither be created nor be destroyed, the atoms of a new born baby must have come from his/her mother and father which contributed to the formation of the child in mother's belly.

Now, another question arises, where did the atom in his/her mother and father originate from. Chronologically proceeding you'll end up with the question- "Where did the atoms of universe originated from?". This is the fundamental question that I was referring to.

Now, universe is considered to be originated from the Big Bang- where nothing existed before and suddenly after the explosion(bang!) every atoms started to exist. Now, the whereabouts of origin of atoms before Big Bang is still a matter of research.

Hence, a perfect answer for this question would be- "Atoms of a new born baby originated from the Big bang".